Musical communities are infiltrated as well as celebrated in Matt Stokes's art. Classical music and black metal rank among the alternative enthusiasms-cum-ways of life he has explored. Stokes's projects often culminate in short, lyrical films. Shot in lush 16mm tones, these have included a northern soul night where skirts balloon as dancers seem to spin on air, and another capturing the frenetic energy of a hardcore punk gig as three generations come together to mosh in a darkened warehouse in Austin, Texas.

Chantelle from the Ascension Eagles, part of Matt Stokes's The Stratford Gaff. Photograph: Nadia Bettega

The first time the thirtysomething British artist focused on a specific musical subculture owas in 2002 during a residency at Grizedale Arts in the Lake District. A decade earlier, local caves had provided an impromptu home to the rave scene thanks to free party crew Out House Promotions. Stokes investigated the parties' ethos and after-effects, beginning Real Arcadia, an ongoing project that has involved a film and an evolving archive of material, not to mention the rebuilding of the Out House soundsystem from scratch. In 2006, Long After Tonight, his film elegy to the pioneers of northern soul, won him the now-defunct Beck's Futures prize.

By collecting memorabilia and sometimes even staging events himself, Stokes echoes re-enactments like Jeremy Deller's Battle of Orgreave or Forsythe and Pollard's gigs by tribute bands. Yet there's more to his works than exploring the familiar events. Recent works like 2009's The Gainsborough Packet have seen Stokes move into altogether new territory. For that piece, after chancing across a letter penned by a 19th-century Newcastle resident, he turned one of history's countless anonymous figures into a folk hero by creating a full-blown musical starring singer Sam Lee. His latest film, The Stratford Gaff, which delves into the intricate history of London's East End, is perhaps his most elaborate work to date. Subtitled A Serio-Comick-Bombastick-Operatick-Interlude, it employs local performers including an escapologist, an Indian dancer, a transsexual comedian, an MC and a rap artist dressed as an owl.

Why we like him: Cipher (2006) brings an experimental noise club night inspired by Norse mythology into contact with a more traditional focus of Edinburgh's music scene. In Usher Hall, two classical musicians rise to the challenge of adapting the sound of "dark ambient musick" (as the description puts it) to the pipe organ.

Footloose: Stokes is the son of a naval pilot, and has travelled the length of the country from Cornwall to Aberdeen.

Where can I see him?The Stratford Gaff, commissioned by Art on the Underground for the Jubilee line series, is on show at Stratford tube station in London until July 2011.